Formed in 2013 by Robert Cooper, who left McCarthy Tétrault to found his own eponymously named litigation-specific boutique, Cooper Litigation is said to be “definitely gaining ground” amongst its much larger Vancouver peers. Clients are not short on enthusiasm either; one raves, “Bob is astute at reading and evaluating the situation. He comes across as very calm, and well versed. He does his homework. You can see by his dialogue with people we are facing that he has earned a lot of respect in his arena. And all of his service was very economical to boot.” Cooper, along with partners from Fasken Martineau, recently acted pro bono on behalf of a group of individuals sleeping in parks in the city of Abbotsford, BC. The City took a concerted attempt to drive them out by spreading chicken dung around their immediate surroundings. This constitutional challenge took place over the course of a six-week trial and in front of what peers acknowledge was “a very tough judge. It was a constitutional challenge to the bylaws that prohibit homeless people from erecting temporary shelters.” Cooper also acted for one of the founders of the men’s underwear design and manufacturing brand MyPakage in a contentious battle with a competitor. A peer observes, “The plaintiffs wanted $23 million from MyPakage, and their business strategy was just to try and swamp [the defendants], but it eventually came to trial, and in the fall of 2015, MyPakage got a judgment in its favor – they won!”
